Production of Onion Seed

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Onion (Allium cepa L.), which belongs to Amaryllidaceae family is a main bulbous vegetable crop of worldwide importance due to its high remunerative price and regular demand in the market. It stands second after tomato in terms of annual world production.

Onion seed quality and yield are directly related to set and bulb size.

Cultivars : 

Faisal Red and Robina,

 Early Red,

Dark Red,

Pusa Red and Pk-10321,

 Phulkara. ‘Red Creole-1’

 Bulb preparation

A sunny site should be selected for the nursery

Prepare a raised seedbed of 5-10 cm height with fertile, well-drained, free from pebbles and garden debris soil.

Sow in October

Harvest in May

Prepared land by cultivating the soil 2-3 times followed by planking

Make 75cm apart ridge plough for seedling preparation

 Seedling will  transplant on 15th November in the field.

The resulting bulbs will be harvested during May of both years.

 Seed Production: - select healthy sets and bulbs, cut their top 1/3rd portion, and treat with 2% fungicide (Thiophanate Methyl) to avoid fungal attack.

 Prepare Land by cultivating the soil 2-3 times followed by 22 planking.

Apply Well-rotted farmyard manure @ 10 tons/acre two months prior to the time of sets/ bulbs transplanting. Made Ridges 75 cm apart with ridge plough.

The plant-to-plant and row-to-row distance of 30 cm x 30 cm and 75 cm x 75 cm was maintained, respectively.

The size of the unit plot was 2.30 m × 4.26 m.

Irrigation will apply fortnightly.

spray fungi 2-3 times at early crop growth stages as a precautionary measure to save the crop from purple blotch.

Weeding was done manually 2-3 times during the vegetative growth stages to save the crop from nutrient competition.

Recommended doses of fertilizers (N:P: K @ 45:30:25 kg/acre) in the form of Urea, Triple Super Phosphate (TSP), and Muriate of Potash (MOP).

Harvest the umbels in May

 Collect seeds by cutting off the umbels. The picked umbels were desiccated in shade/ partial shade for 3-4 days and later dehusking was done manually. Cleaned and properly desiccated seeds were stored in polyethylene bags at room temperature for further analysis.

 

Foliar spray of GA3 at 2-3, 6-7 leaf, and flowering leaf stages create the tallest plant height and maximum number of leaves per plant and higher seed quality traits. Maximum (101-130 g) bulb size produced a maximum number of umbels per plant, seed yield, and germination percentage in onion.

Apply phosphorus and potassium fertilizer @ 60:75 kg/acre and @ 90:50 kg/acre.